


Big Girls

by adjectivebear (HealerAriel)



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, Gen, Hugs, Kink Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-02
Updated: 2013-07-02
Packaged: 2017-12-17 11:34:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/867049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HealerAriel/pseuds/adjectivebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Amethyne learns that not everyone who looks scary really is.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Or: when the Kink Meme asks for a gentle giant, the kink meme gets a gentle giant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Big Girls

“Er… excuse me?”

Amethyne turned toward the voice, nearly letting out a squeak of alarm when she found herself face-to-face with two of the biggest humans she’d ever seen. Not wanting to get into any more trouble than she may already have been in—because humans, especially the kind who went around in that much armor, only showed up when someone was in trouble—Amethyne dropped a quick curtsy and, as politely as she could, replied, “Yes, sers?”

The human woman came a bit closer, revealing herself to be even larger than she’d looked at a distance, and Amethyne fought the overwhelming instinct to shrink back from her. The only human she’d ever seen up close was Lady Landra, and this woman surely stood at least head taller. Amethyne had known that human _men_ could be unreasonably tall, but she’d had no idea their women grew to be so huge!

“Excuse me,” the woman repeated. “Is your name Amethyne?”

Amethyne blanched. They knew her name. Now she _knew_ she was in trouble. She scrambled to think of what she might have done wrong so that she could confess it straight away—everyone knew that sometimes the guards were more lenient if you owned up to whatever it was you’d done—but she came up with nothing. Maybe the new king had passed some new law that she’d broken without knowing? Because if she had it was hardly her fault; he’d only been crowned this morning, after all, and news didn’t get to the alienage as quickly as it got to the rest of the city. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I’m—I’m not sure what I did, but I didn’t mean to do it, I swear! I’m a good girl, honest!”

“Oh! Oh, sweetheart, no,” the woman said quickly, going red in the face. “No, you didn’t do anything wrong. That’s not why I’m here.”

Amethyne blinked. “It’s not?”

“No, of course not,” the woman said. She cocked her head. “You _are_ Amethyne, aren’t you? Iona’s daughter?”

Amethyne nodded, her shoulders sagging in relief at the mention of her mother’s name. If the giant lady knew Mommy, she couldn’t be all that bad. “Yes, ser, I am.” Relief quickly gave way to excitement. “Do... do you have a message from Mommy? Has she said when she’ll be coming home? She and Lady Landra have been on such a long trip, and Mommy must be very busy because she usually writes to me when she’s away, and—ser? What’s the matter?”

The lady’s eyes had gone red and shiny, and she blinked them rapidly, clearing her throat. “Amethyne, that’s… that’s what I needed to talk to you about. You see, your mother, she—” the woman’s voice cracked. The equally-huge man put his hand on her shoulder, and she took a shaky breath before speaking again.

She introduced the two of them as Mairead Cousland and King Alistair and Amethyne nearly burst with excitement. The Hero of Ferelden and the king himself, here in the alienage, talking to her! She should have known they weren’t guards; their armor was much too shiny.  ‘Ceremonial,’ Mommy would have said.

Maybe all that excitement was why it took a while for the rest of what Lady Mairead said to sink in.

Bits and pieces registered in Amethyne’s mind as though she were hearing them underwater: An attack on the castle at Highever. No prisoners taken. Her mother was dead.

_Her mother was dead._

“W-what?” She felt dizzy.

Lady Mairead’s eyes went red and shiny again. “I’m _so_ sorry, sweetheart…”

Big girls didn’t cry; Amethyne knew that. She’d thought that she was a big girl now.

She’d been wrong.

Sobs shook her small frame until her legs could no longer support her weight. Her knees gave out and she collapsed—not, to her confusion, to the ground, but into something cool and hard.

And shiny.

“I’m sorry,” Lady Mairead said again, hugging her as tightly as Amethyne supposed she could in armor, and Amethyne cried even harder into the kneeling woman’s neck. “I’m so sorry, Amethyne. I lost my mother too that night.”

The waver in her voice surprised Amethyne into silence. She pulled back from the metal embrace to meet an equally tear-streaked face.

“I… I thought big girls don’t cry,” she hiccupped.

Lady Mairead smiled. “We most certainly _do_ ,” she said with a watery sort of laugh.

“She cries _all_ the time,” King Alistair said, grinning.

Lady Mairead nodded. “I do. At the drop of a hat. It’s kind of embarrassing, really.”

Amethyne managed something between a sniffle and a giggle. Lady Mairead smiled at her and smoothed her hair back just like Mommy used to, and she felt a little like crying again. She didn’t, though.

“You know,” Lady Mairead said, “now that I’m to be queen, I’m going to need my own lady in waiting. If you’d like, you can come work for me. We’d pay you well, and you’d have your own room in the palace, and a tutor, and all the nice clothes and toys and books you wanted. We’d even help you find a good husband when you grow up, if you’d like. Not to pressure you, or anything; of course I’ll understand if you—“

“Of course I will!” Amethyne said. Now that Mommy was… gone… there was nothing left for her in the alienage, and Amethyne could do her much prouder as the queen’s—the _queen’s!_ —lady in waiting than she could if she stayed here.

Lady Mairead positively beamed. “Well, go on, then. Get your things. We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.”

“Now? Really? Okay, just… I just need a few minutes! I’ll be right back!”

 

 

 

As the little girl dashed off, Alistair glanced at his bride, who was pushing herself back to her feet. “’Needed a lady in waiting?’ That’s the story we’re going with, is it?”

“Eamon told me in no uncertain terms that we can’t legally adopt an elven child.” A slow smile spread across her face. “I improvised.”

**Author's Note:**

> I am horrible at writing child!POV. I should work on this. Or avoid it altogether.


End file.
